For you from NCR but edited out of special hardcopy edition re Pope's abdication-LGBT Catholics Hope

INDEPENDENT media: The National Catholic Reporter has been on the frontlines within the Catholic Church for social and economic justice and peace activism ever since the build up to the Invasion & Occupation of Iraq.

In the wake of Pope Benedict's resignation announcement Feb. 11, gay and lesbian Catholics reacted with relief and cautious optimism for a pope willing to engage in dialogue.

With the departure of Benedict, DignityUSA, the nation's largest gay and lesbian Catholic organization, called for an end to church statements that "inflict harm on already marginalized people" and depict gay people "as less than fully human."

1. It's a small hope unfortunately...

All the Cardinal electors were appointed by either Benedict or John Paul. You get appointed by toeing the party line, so to speak. There will be no changes in the Catechism's teaching that homosexuality is "intrinsically disordered" or that homosexual acts constitute grave sin.

Then again...John XXIII was supposed to be a nice, quiet, place-holder Pope in the wake of the long theologically strict reign of Pius XII. Instead, we got the Second Vatican Council.

2. Yes! The difference between something and nothing is sometimes the most valuable connection

between the similarities between somethings.

You may recognize a less complex way of saying that, "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger", which I think has to do with how it clarifies who one is and that's "is" in the sense of be -ing, is -ing. If the life of a man named Jesus doesn't show us this on the path of peace, I'm not sure what else he is about.